Daily Digest - September 27: Haunted by the Ryan Budget

John Nichols notes that the laundry list of demands that Republican leaders put forth for raising the debt ceiling looks suspiciously like the Romney/Ryan economic agenda that voters soundly rejected just last year, though even that might not be enough to placate the more radical members of their party.

Jared Bernstein points out that while Scandinavian countries do enjoy lower child poverty and more economic mobility than the U.S., it's not because the invisible hand of the market has a softer touch there. It's because those countries have decided to care about poverty and act to address it.

Nina Liss-Schultz writes that the Obama administration's decision to extend federal labor protections to direct-care workers starting in 2015 will have a big impact on a fast-growing but poorly regulated industry full of jobs that have imposed a heavy financial burden on its largely female workforce.

Monica Potts makes the case that although SNAP is always at the top of the list when lawmakers look for ways to cut spending, the program is actually helping a lot of people -- especially children -- and boosting the economy without significantly contributing to the deficit or giving rise to any serious fraud.

Paul Krugman writes that the last few years have been a great time to be wealthy, just like all the other times. But some seem to expect public adoration to come with all the money, and that has led them to invoke everything from Nazi Germany to the Jim Crow South to express the depths of their martyrdom.

Matt Taibbi argues that the "public pension crisis" in many states has been trumped up in order to lay the blame for economic and fiscal troubles on teachers, firefighters, and police officers while handing off their money to some of the very same Wall Street firms that are actually responsible for those problems.

Simon Johnson writes that economics and diplomacy have long been linked for the U.S., and the next frontier is to ensure that women around the world have full and equal ability to participate in the economy and be rewarded for their work. As Fed chair, Janet Yellen could serve as a homegrown role model.

Earlier this week, the Roosevelt Institute's Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative and Roosevelt Institute | Pipeline convened a panel of experts to discuss how the next mayor of New York City can address rising inequality. Nell Abernathy has the full video and event highlights.